A few days ago we got word of HP’s Elite Autofocus webcam, a $99 3 megapixel cam built for people looking for high performance video chatting and recording. Well it arrived today and we just wanted to post some quick images and thoughts about it.
The Elite is about six inches long and almost four inches when collapsed. It is light enough to be portable, but the use of a dual hinge (up/down and side to side) connecting the camera and controls to the body means you probably won’t want to throw it in a bag with your notebook. The lower section of the Elite has two more hinges, a spring-loaded one that can clamp to the top of a monitor and another that allows the metal neck to swing up if you are using the cam on your desktop.
(Read the full post about ‘Hands-on: HP Elite Autofocus webcam’…)
Right, now April 1st has been and gone, we can get on with the real mobile news - thankfully! Apologies to regular readers for the lame April Fool’s joke on April 1st. Everyone else was doing it, but that’s no excuse, and after finding myself bored senseless by reading lame joke after lame joke, I realized that I’d committed the same sin on my own blog! So, no more April Fools from now on! Anyway, on with the news. A newcomer to the mobile phone world, ClarityLife, has released a new mobile phone that offers, well, nothing at all! As you can see from the pic, you get four huge buttons, a monochrome screen, and a one touch emergency button on the back…and that’s it. (Read the full post about ‘ClarityLife adds new feature to mobile phones: cataracts!’…)
New player VelocityMobile have been getting themselves some publicity from CTIA 2008 by announcing two new phones - the Velocity 103 and Velocity 111. Both phones are smartphones, but although they undoubtedly look good (particularly the 103), they’re not exactly innovative. You get the same features you’d expect on even mid-range phones these days, so I’m not sure how Velocity are defining ’smart’.
However, where they aim to differentiate themselves from the competition is through price.
(Read the full post about ‘VelocityMobile pitches cheap smartphones’…)
We have forks and spoons, and now here’s a brand new eating utensil known as the Knork. It makes the many millions around the world who love cutting food (especially cakes) with the side of their fork happy, and the Knork was specially shaped in order to cater to that habit. Plastic Knorks are sharp enough to cut through raw carrots, and from the picture above it apparently makes a pretty good opponent against a juicy slab of steak. One thing though - whenever I cut my steak, I’ll normally need a fork to hold the meat in place while the knife gets to work…something to ponder upon here.
AT&T has announced that it will be the first to launch Microsoft’s Surface in its stores, beating out T-Mobile, Harrah’s, and Starwood Hotels, all of which announced their intention to roll them out in their establishments.
The Surface device will be available in select AT&T wireless stores (22 in all) April 17 and will initially work with eight of AT&T’s wireless phones.
Posted Apr 2nd 2008 12:12PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Storage
Confused by all the various permutations of Western Digital’s My Book line of external drives yet? No? Well, go ahead and add the My Book Studio Edition II to your stack of flashcards, Mr. Smart Face. Just like the previous 2TB My Book products, you’re getting two RAID 0 drives in a quad-interface external case, only this time it’s the updated My Book Studio design. WD’s also gone and upgraded the drives themselves to GreenPower units, which run cooler and use less power, and Mac users will be pleased to know that everything comes HFS+ formatted. Got that? Expect a quiz in the near future. (Read the full post about ‘Western Digital pumps out the My Book Studio Edition II’…)
Facebook continues to prove that it’s a social network like no other by using a new user-powered translation engine for their site. They’re going to use this to add 22 more languages to Facebook so that it will be accessible to more people across the world. Currently, Facebook is only available in four main languages: English, French, German and Spanish. This move will no doubt add to the site’s overall visibility and accessibility.
As mentioned previously, the translation engine will be a user-powered, so if you’re interested in contributing to Facebook’s expansion, you may do so by going through the simple application process here.
(Read the full post about ‘Facebook expands, plans to adds 22 more languages’…)
Sony has released its newest LCD TV series, the Bravia 4000 which according to Sony is “a new standard in picture excellence.” The Bravia 4000 features a picture frame mode that will let users display their photos when the television is not in use. While the HD photos are playing by way of a slideshow, the picture frame mode will reduce the LCD’s brightness. Users can also personalize their television with their own photos using the USB Photoviewer. Or if it is a hassle to you, you can just use the six pre-installed pictures of some pop and classical artists. In addition, the Sony Bravia W4000-series LCD TV also features the BRAVIA sync technology which uses HDMI connection to transmit commands to the various components of a home theatre system. (Read the full post about ‘Sony launches the Bravia W4000-Series LCD TVs’…)
The UV Card is perfect for all those who tend to scurry under the shade whenever the sun gets too strong for them, which isn’t a bad thing considering you have forgotten to put some sunblock on. Anyways, the more scientifically minded who love taking details of their environment will find the UV card to come in handy as it will be able to indicate the current UV intensity within three seconds, displaying it in three levels (1 to 3 indicates low, 4 to 6 is middle while 7 to 8 means staying indoors and wait till dusk). The UV Card retails for $11.50.
Tags: DAB, dvr, DVD, cable
